Clothes drying reel



Nov. 4, 1941. c. 'r. MULCHAY CLOTHES DRYING REEL Filed July 3, 1939 Patented Nov. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATEN T OFF ICE CLOTHES DRYING REEL Charles Mulchay, San Pedro, Calif.

Application July 3, 1939, Serial No. 282,606

4 Claims.

Thisinvention has for a primary purpose the provision of a rotary clothes drying reel which will be superior to reels as heretofore used, in

point of simplicity and inexpensiveness of construction, strength, durability, ease of operation, reliability of performance, and the provision for readily tilting the reel to facilitat the placing and removal of clothes; as well as by reason of the particular construction, inter-relation and relative arrangement of the parts thereof and the use of a novel means for automatically controlling the rotation of the reel when the latter is disposed in tilted position.

Another purpose of my invention is to provide in a rotary clothes reel of the character described a simple and eflicient means which may be easily and conveniently operated for tilting the reel as desired whereby it may be disposed in the position best suited to the condition at hand, said means holding the reel in any tilted position to which adjusted as well as in horizontal position.

A further purpose is to provide in a clothes drying reel such as described an improved automatic looking or rotation control means Which will permit of tilting the reel while under control of such means, whereby the control or looking means will be effective when the reel is disposed in a plurality of difierent positions, said locking means including members on the reel and standard arranged to engage to limit the reel to rotation at least in one direction when said reel is disposed in certain tilted positions whereby undesirable and unintentional gravitational rotation of the reel while being loaded or unloaded Will be prevented.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention is carried into efiect as illustrated by way of example in the Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line '44 j of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of the tilting means looking in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. '7 is a detail in section taken on the line l-'I of Fig.2.

One form of clothes drying reel embodying my invention generally comprises a standard A supported in upright position in any suitable man-. ner and provided at its upper end with a spindle B tiltable relative thereto on a horizontal axis; a clothes reel C rotatable on said spindle, a means D for tilting the spindle and reel and maintaining them in tilted as well as horizontal positions, and a means E for automatically controlling the rotation of the reel as by looking it against rotation at least in one direction when disposed in tilted positions.

As here shown the spindle B is secured by a pivot pin 1 between upstanding ears 8 on the upper end of the standard and thereby is limited to tilting movement in a vertical plane between said ears about the horizontal axis afforded by said pivot pin.

The reel C comprises a hub 9 rotatable on the spindle B on ball bearings l0, and is held in place by'means of a cap member II and a nut I2. Arms 13 are socketed on the hub 9 and extend radially outwardly and upwardly therefrom and are provided with rope or wire clothes lines is extended therebetween in the usual manner.

The means D for tiltably adjusting the spindle and reel comprises an arcuate crank arm 15 formed integrally with or otherwise fixed to the pivoted end of the spindle B, a nut I 6 pivoted at IT on the outer end of said crank arm as shown in Fig. 5; a screw shaft I8 threadedly engaged with said nut and rotatably supported in a bearing 19 on the standard A, and a crank handle 20 carried by said screw shaft. Collars 2! or the like are provided on the screw shaft Hi to engage opposite sides of bearing l'9 to rotatably retain the shaft on the standard. The opposite sides of the bearing 19 against which the collars 2| seat are convex or dome shaped as indicated. at l9, and the bearing 19 has its bore 19a of a diameter exceeding that of the portion of the shaft is extending therethrough as shown in Fig. 7,

whereby the shaft may rock relative to the bearing sufficiently to permit such angular movement of the shaft relative to the post A as is necessary for movement of the nut 16 on the arcuate path described thereby on swinging the arm l5 around the axis-of the pivot 1. The threaded upper portions of the shaft 8 are covered by tubular shields 22 to protect the clothes from grease or oil, which shields are carried on and protrude from the opposite ends of the nut I6.

It is now seen that the spindle B may be moved into and out of vertical position by appropriate rotation of the shaft 18 through manipulation of the crank 20 and that this form of adjusting means will maintain the spindle and reel in any position to which they are moved thereby, without accidental or unintentional movement from such position.

By tilting the spindle and reel so that one side of the reel lies closer to the ground the user may easily and conveniently place clothes upon and sufficient friction to prevent unintentional movement of the reel from any position into which rotatably adjusted. In this connection it should be noted that both forms of the locking means here shown will yieldably resist movement of the reel in either direction to an extent sumcient to prevent unintentional movement of the reel from a position into which it is manually turned while in loading or unloading position.

ing to some extent movement of the reel in said one direction. As here shown this means prowise rotation but obviously could be arranged to lock the reel against clockwise motion instead, inasmuch as what is desired is to prevent a section of the reel after being loaded with Wet clothes and moved in either direction upward and away from the operator, from gravitating back into position opposite the operator.

As here provided the means E comprises a detent' member 23 such as a pin or rod which is slidably supported in a tubular holder 24 fixed in outwardly inclined position on the standard A. In this holder is a spring 25 which urges the pin outwardly and yields when the pin is operatively engaged with web-like ratchet members 25 arranged in a circular series around and adjacent the lower portion of the hub 9 of the reel C as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. 1

The detent member 23 is so positioned that it will not encounter the ratchet members 26 until the reel is tilted from a horizontal position into an inclined position, for example, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and consequently the reel may be freely rotated in either direction until so tilted. However, when in such tilted position, the reel is prevented from rotating in a counter-clockwise direction by the co-acting members 23 and 26 as particularly shown in Fig. 3 and therefore when the operator turns the reel to move a loaded section thereof upwardly and to the left, an unloaded section is thereby disposed in front of the operator and the loaded section will remain in the elevated and away-from-the operator position due to the ratchet action of said members 23 and 26. As the member 23 is yieldably extended, it is seen that even after it has become engaged with one of the members 26 the operator may manipulate the means D for either increasing or decreasing the tilt of the reel without rendering the means E inoperative as a lock. This will permit of positioning the reel to best suit the particular operator while yet providing for the ratchet or locking action as aforesaid.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a variational form of the invention wherein the reel 30 is mounted on the standard 3| in the same manner as in the first described form and is adjusted by a means 32 similar to that in said first form. Thisvariation deals with the lock and as here provided the hub 33 of the reel has a conical or inclined surface 34 adapted to be engaged by a friction shoe 35 on the outer end of a spring arm 36 fixed as at 3'! to the standard 3|. In this form the shoe 35 does not engage the surface 34 of the reel until the latter through operation of the adjusting means 32 is tilted to bring the reel into inclined position to load or unload. The stop or reel locking effect is controlled by the adjusting means 32, it being apparent that further tilting of the reel will bring about closer engagement of the shoe with the reel surface 34 and thereby set up I claim: l. A clothes drying reel comprising a standard, an upright spindle, means pivotally supporting said spindle on said standard for tilting movement on a horizontal axis, a reel rotatably mounted on-said spindle, means connected with said standard and spindle for tilting the spindle and reel and maintaining them in any position to which adjusted thereby, and locking members on the standard and reel operating to lock the reel against rotation at least in one direction when the spindle and reel are disposed in any of a plurality of tilted positions within a predetermined range in which said members are in cooperative relation to one another.

2. In a clothes drying reel, a standard, a spindle tiltable on a horizontal axis on said standard, a reel rotatable on said spindle and tiltable therewith, a crank arm on said spindle, a nut pivoted on said crank arm, a shaft rotatablymounted on said standard and having a threaded portion extending through said nut, a crank on said shaft, and locking members mounted on said reel and standard respectively in position to contact one another to control the rotation of the reel when the latter is in a plurality of tilted positions, including means supporting one of the locking members for yielding movement in the direction of tilting of the reel.

3. In a clothes drying reel, a standard, anupright spindle mounted on said standard for tilting movement abouta horizontal axis for disposition in a plurality of tilted positions for automatical- I 1y controlling the rotation of the reel to cause it to be held against gravitational rotational movement in one direction, said last named means including members mounted on the reel and standard respectively, and spring means supporting one of said members for yielding movement while engaged with its associated member throughout a predetermined range of tilting movement of said reel.

4. In a clothes drying reel, a standard, an upright spindle mounted on said standard for tilting movement about a horizontal axis for disposition in vertical and inclined positions, a reel rotatable on said spindle, means for holding in tilted or vertical positions the said spindle, and means operable only when said'reel is disposed in certain tilted positions for automatically controlling the rotation of the reel to cause it to be held against gravitational rotational movement in one direction, said last named means including a hub on said reel, a circular series of ratchet members on said hub, and a spring loaded detent pin carried on said standard and adapted for engagement with said ratchet members throughout a predetermined range of tilting movement of said reel.

CHARLES T. MULCHAY. 

